Health/Wellness

More than ever, Latinas are feeling the pressure to be skinny. Therefore former model and Cuban-born TV personality Daisy Fuentes will lead Fitness magazine in its Mind, Body, Spirit initiative as its superstar. In the September issue of Fitness (which hit newsstands August 14th), Daisy discusses her body confidence, and how to reset the dial on what America calls “beautiful”. She even offers a workout that helps her get ready for a photo shoot. Her interview and her consejos para las Latinas are a breath of fresh air as more and more magazines feature pencil thin models and celebrities.

Your comadre-blogger has hooked you up with excerpt on the interview.🙂 In the Fitness interviews, Daisy talks about:

Celebrity role models: “It takes someone as confident as Jennifer Lopez to turn a body part that’s often considered a flaw into something hot.”

Hispanic women’s pressure to feel thin: “There’s a part of you that really wants to embrace your curves, then there’s society saying no one likes curves.”

Whether Hispanic body image will change in five years:“I like the multicultural celebration of body image that is going on now. [I’m happy] that we’re all starting to see how beauty shines through no matter what you look like. I’m also a big supporter of charities that boost girls’ self-esteem.”

Her own curves: “When I was younger, I used to worry about it all the time. Now I’m know that I’m doing the best I can. I don’t care about the criticism.”

Her advice for other women:“Don’t be so hard on yourself. But, if you don’t like something about your body, change it. Eat healthy and work out.”

“Puerto Rico’s AIDS treatment program, hit by drug shortages in recent months, will be aggressively revamped to ensure patients in the U.S. territory receive medication without delays, the governor announced Tuesday.

The program aims to provide anti-retroviral drug therapy for thousands of HIV/AIDS sufferer but has faltered recently due to a forced rationing of free medicine for hundreds of patients. Advocates blame the shortages on mismanagement.

“The Virginia Department of Health has been using Spanish radio to encourage Hispanics living in Northern Virginia to get tested for HIV.

The $50,000 statewide advertising campaign coincides with National HIV Testing Day, a day to encourage people to learn their HIV status. The testing day, which was yesterday, was started in 1995 by the National Association of People With AIDS.”